Schoenbrunn Village stands today as a partial reconstruction of an 18th century Delaware Indian mission town. It was founded on May 3, 1772 by missionaries of the Moravian church. The Moravians were from Moravia, which is now part of the Czech Republic.

This was a time of turmoil and upheaval in the colonies with the fight moving toward independence from Great Britain. The Moravians were pacifists, however, their sympathies were with the colonists. The Moravian and Delaware leaders agreed to relocate missions from Pennsylvania to the more peaceful Tuscarawas Valley in the Ohio territory. The land, near a large spring, was given to Reverend David Zeisberger by the Delaware Chief Netawates, whose name means "Newcomer." It was called "Welhik T'uppek" in the Delaware language and Schoenbrunn, meaning "Beautiful Spring" in German.

On May 3, 1772, Zeisberger and his party, consisting of 28 men, women, and children and a herd of cattle arrived. Their first task was not building cabins, but planting crops to sustain them through their first winter.

Zeisberger's Cabin was the first built, followed by the school. At its greatest size, Schoenbrunn had a population of 400 Christian natives, mostly Delaware Indians, and included in its buildings, the first school and first Christian church built in Ohio.

Early Moravian mission settlements were laid out in the form of a cross, the main street running east to west, with the church at the center. Schoenbrunn, however, was laid out in the form of a "T"; because the topography would not allow a cross. The church was in the center of the "T" and from Zeisberger's diaries, we know there were several more streets, and approximately 60 buildings.

After a few short years, the mission's neutrality was questioned and Zeisberger was urged to move closer to Coshocton. So, on April 19, 1777 he destroyed the church so it couldn't be used by non-Christians and the whole village moved to Lichtenau, near Coshocton. That, effectively, was the end of Schoenbrunn.

In the early 1920's a Moravian minister, Reverend Joseph Weinland from Dover, sought to memorialize Schoenbrunn. Research from the Moravian archives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, planning and digging continued and in 1927, the first log cabin and the school were reconstructed.

Today, Schoenbrunn has over 16 buildings including the Church, School and David's cabin on their original sites. There is also a visitor center that has a gift shop, museum and theater.

Admission into the village is $7 for adults, $5 for seniors (55+), $4 for children (7-17), and under 7 is FREE!

Brief History of the Moravian Church:

For over five centuries the Moravian
Church has proclaimed the gospel in all parts of the world. Its
influence has far exceeded its numbers as it has cooperated with
Christians on every continent and has been a visible part of the
Body
of Christ, the Church. Proud of its heritage and firm in its
faith,
the Moravian Church ministers to the needs of people wherever they
are.

The name Moravian identifies the fact that this historic
church had its origin in ancient Bohemia and Moravia in what is
the
present-day Czech Republic. In the mid-ninth century these
countries
converted to Christianity chiefly through the influence of two
Greek
Orthodox missionaries, Cyril and Methodius. They translated the
Bible
into the common language and introduced a national church ritual.
In
the centuries that followed, Bohemia and Moravia gradually fell
under
the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Rome, but some of the Czech
people
protested.

The foremost of Czech reformers, John Hus
(1369-1415) was a professor of philosophy and rector of the University in Prague. The Bethlehem Chapel in Prague, where Hus
preached, became a rallying place for the Czech reformation.
Gaining
support from students and the common people, he led a protest
movement against many practices of the Roman Catholic clergy and
hierarchy. Hus was accused of heresy, underwent a long trial at
the
Council of Constance, and was burned at the stake on July 6, 1415.

Organized in 1457

The reformation spirit did not die with Hus. The Moravian Church,
or Unitas Fratrum (Unity of Brethren), as it has been officially
known since 1457, arose as followers of Hus gathered in the
village
of Kunvald, about 100 miles east of Prague, in eastern Bohemia,
and
organized the church. This was 60 years before Martin Luther began
his reformation and 100 years before the establishment of the
Anglican Church. By 1467 the Moravian Church had established its
own
ministry, and in the years that followed three orders of the
ministry
were defined: deacon, presbyter and bishop.

Growth, Persecution and Exile

By 1517 the Unity of Brethren numbered at
least 200,000 with over 400 parishes. Using a hymnal and catechism
of
its own, the church promoted the Scriptures through its two
printing
presses and provided the people of Bohemia and Moravia with the
Bible
in their own language.

A bitter persecution, which broke out
in 1547, led to the spread of the Brethren's Church to Poland
where
it grew rapidly. By 1557 there were three provinces of the church:
Bohemia, Moravia and Poland. The Thirty Years War (1618-1648)
brought
further persecution to the Brethren's Church, and the Protestants
of
Bohemia were severely defeated at the battle of White Mountain in
1620.

The prime leader of the Unitas Fratrum in these
tempestuous years was Bishop John Amos Comenius (1592-1670). He
became world-renowned for his progressive views of education
Comenius, lived most of his life in exile in England and in
Holland
where he died. His prayer was that some day the "hidden seed"
of his beloved Unitas Fratrum might once again spring to new life.

Renewed in the 1700s

The eighteenth century saw the renewal
of the Moravian Church through the patronage of Count Nicholas
Ludwig
von Zinzendorf, a pietist nobleman in Saxony. Some Moravian
families
fleeing persecution in Bohemia and Moravia found refuge on
Zinzendorf's estate in 1722 and built the community of Herrnhut.
The
new community became the haven for many more Moravian refugees.

Count Zinzendorf encouraged them to keep the discipline of
the Unitas Fratrum, and he gave them the vision to take the gospel
to
the far corners of the globe. August 13, 1727, marked the
culmination
of a great spiritual renewal for the Moravian Church in Herrnhut,
and
in 1732 the first missionaries were sent to the West Indies.

Moravians in America

The Moravians first came to America during the colonial period.
In
1735 they were part of General Oglethorpe's philanthropic venture
in Georgia. Their attempt to establish a community in Savannah did
not succeed, but they did have a profound impact on the young John
Wesley who had gone to Georgia during a personal spiritual crisis.
Wesley was impressed that the Moravians remained calm during a
storm
that was panicking experienced sailors. He was amazed at people
who
did not fear death, and back in London he worshiped with Moravians
in
the Fetter Lane Chapel. There his "heart was strangely
warmed."

After the failure of the Georgia mission, the
Moravians were able to establish a permanent presence in
Pennsylvania
in 1741, settling on the estate of George Whitefield. Moravian
settlers purchased 500 acres to establish the settlement of
Bethlehem
in 1741. Soon they bought the 5,000 acres of the Barony of
Nazareth
from Whitefield's manager, and the two communities of Bethlehem
and
Nazareth became closely linked in their agricultural and
industrial
economy.

Other settlement
congregations were established in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and
Maryland. They built the communities of Bethlehem, Nazareth,
Lititz,
and Hope. They also established congregations in Philadelphia and
on
Staten Island in New York.All were considered frontier centers for
the spread of the gospel, particularly in mission to the Native
Americans .Bethlehem was the center of Moravian activity in
colonial
America

Bishop Augustus Spangenberg led a party to survey
a 100,000 acre tract of land in North Carolina, which came to be
known as Wachau after an Austrian estate of Count Zinzendorf. The
name, later anglicized to Wachovia, became the center of growth
for
the church in that region. Bethabara, Bethania and Salem (now
Winston-Salem) were the first Moravian settlements in North
Carolina.

In 1857 the two American provinces, North and South,
became largely independent and set about expansion. Bethlehem in
Pennsylvania and Winston-Salem in North Carolina became the
headquarters of the two provinces (North and South)

The
Southern Province grew mainly in Forsyth County, but over time
established congregations in Charlotte, Greensboro, Wilmington,
Raleigh, and Stone Mountain, Georgia. Moravian churches in Florida
are growing with the influx of immigrants from the Caribbean
basin.

The Northern Province expanded with the influx of immigrants
from Germany and Scandinavia into the upper Midwest in the late
19th
century. It now reaches both coasts and as far north as Edmonton,
Canada. Green Bay, Wisconsin, was founded by Moravians. Such wide
geographical spread caused the Northern Province to be divided
into
Eastern, Western and Canadian Districts.

After World War II,
strong pushes for church extension took the Northern Province to
Southern California (where only an Indian mission had existed
since
1890) as well as to some Eastern, Midwestern and Canadian sites.
The
Southern Province added numerous churches in the Winston-Salem
area,
throughout North Carolina and extended its outreach to Florida and
to
Georgia. In North America, the Moravian Church has congregations
in
16 states, the District of Columbia, and in two Provinces of
Canada.